Aftermarket bumpers for trucks

[Shotgun]

Is the agreed upon best practice to hit a deer first with your factory bumper and then use the proceeds to buy a nice steel aftermarket bumper?

I don't know if that is best practice, but that is the route I took unintentionally. Unfortunately, the deer took out the radiator and the truck would not drive. I was stuck on the highway in the country. At least the ranch dog from a house about a half mile away dropped by to say "Hi" while I was waiting for a tow in the middle of the night.

I was thinking of something understated like this.

https://www.americantrucks.com/durat...s-t542572.html

If that is the bumper you want, then you should go deer hunting with your truck first. The only thing that would have helped me was one of those RanchHand type bumpers with a grill guard. A new steel bumper like the one you are considering without a grill guard does not matter much when the body of the animal crushes in much of the front part of the engine compartment. But, that one does look nice.

[camel]

Modern frames are designed to act as original from the factory. Hanging stuff is going to complicate things. A well designed bumper from a reputable company will probably be survivable in a crash. Your insurance might not cover it.
Anything that affects the original characteristics of the frame will be suspect.
Just do not hit things is not the answer. But there is a reason tiger woods lived.
It sucks to fix things once you hit them. You generally don’t get a second chance once insurance gets involved. My experience

[Welder]

Nice looking bumper LL, and I doubt it'd really save much of your truck from getting damaged in a deer encounter. The ones I've looked at are all pretty light-duty when it comes to the headlight protection parts, so if the deer jumps and hits the corner of the truck in the headlight guard area, you'll still be replacing sheet metal and headlights. And part of your bumper. I mean light-duty like I could fold most of them into the headlight with a swing from a 10-lb sledgehammer. Brush guards are exactly what they are.

I guess I should really build a front bumper for at least *one* of my trucks, considering my vocation and all. It's just that to do it right and add *effective* strength to the truck while not adding a ton of unnecessary weight really turns it into an engineering problem and not a welding problem. I despise useless weight on my trucks, because I pay for it in fuel, tires, suspension components, and reduced payload capacity. It also reduces my ground clearance by compressing the springs and bringing the entire vehicle closer to Mother Earth.

Now I did build myself a little workbench on the back of my F350, complete with swing-away vise and such. It's about 18" deep and made of 3/8" plate with a 4" square tube frame recessed about 4" back under it so you have a clamping perimeter. A 2" receiver hitch penetrates the 4" tube so that I don't lose ground clearance by locating the hitch underneath of it, plus I have 12k-capacity D-rings for safety chain hooks or load tie-downs or whatever. This bumper is installed on the back of a Reading service body but mainly attached to the truck frame itself.

So anyway, I had *just* built this contraption, the paint was barely dry, and I went to town. I was stopped in traffic and I noticed this Jeep Liberty flying up on me, obviously not paying attention. So I stood on the brake pedal and waited, and sure enough, he walloped me good. So the light turned green and we both drove into the Exxon to look at the respective damage. Poor guy, his front end was demolished. I don't think his airbag went off because his engine still ran and usually there's a fuel shutoff that goes along with airbag use....but he had plastic dangling from everywhere and was drooling some fluids. My new bumper had acted like a full-width horizontal splitting maul on that poor car. He was like, "Dude, mine still drives, yours looks fine, can we just say it's all good and go our separate ways?" So we did. Hopefully there was still enough antifreeze left in that Liberty to get him home LOL.

My luck would be that as soon as I put a front bumper on my truck, the deer would run right into the side of it instead. That's happened to me a few times in different cars.

[LittleLebowski]

Think something like this would provide more protection for the radiator and whatnot?

[LittleLebowski]

Modern frames are designed to act as original from the factory. Hanging stuff is going to complicate things. A well designed bumper from a reputable company will probably be survivable in a crash. Your insurance might not cover it.
Anything that affects the original characteristics of the frame will be suspect.
Just do not hit things is not the answer. But there is a reason tiger woods lived.
It sucks to fix things once you hit them. You generally don’t get a second chance once insurance gets involved. My experience

With my now much more frequent road trips to the ranch in Wyoming, “not hitting things” is much harder to do.

[JRB]

With my now much more frequent road trips to the ranch in Wyoming, “not hitting things” is much harder to do.

That, and the ramifications of a disabled vehicle are very different when you're 50+ miles away in any direction from civilization.

I agree with the other folks that recommended a tube-style bumper for roadkill damage resistance. Sheet metal bumpers look awesome but they're not the best choice for maintaining shape/integrity with a serious impact.

[Shotgun]

With my now much more frequent road trips to the ranch in Wyoming, “not hitting things” is much harder to do.

First, pretty dang cool that you have a place in Wyoming to go to.

The photo of the bumper you provided above does look like it would provide at least some protection to the radiator, and that one is rugged and attractive looking for a truck as well.

Here are thoughts from an aging redneck who still occasionally has to travel rarely used farm to market roads far from civilization and who has direct experience with a deer (or at least deer parts) in the radiator. My current F150 does not have a grill guard or a steel bumper, even after my previous experience. I live in the city, and I do not have to do a lot of back road travel at night at interstate speeds. With a little age and wisdom gained through bad experiences, nighttime is not the time to drive 80 to 90 mph just because you know the only local trooper in a four county area is at home watching the Cowboys. I slow down at night when on country roads. Just me, but f I was having to do a lot of night driving on little used backroads, I would definitely get a steel bumper that had a considerable grill guard up front.

https://www.carid.com/ranch-hand/leg...1bcd975e818dc5

Those Ranch Hand grill guards are not the most attractive accessory, but they can be the difference between driving to the next town or waiting on a tow if you are lucky enough to have cell phone coverage. There are places in West Texas where cell coverage is still nonexistent. I bet Wyoming is the same.

I suspect this may turn out to be like washing one's car or truck. As soon as you do it, it will rain. If you get a nice steel bumper and grill guard, you will never hit a deer, antelope, hog or other critter on the highway. If you go without, you will probably be sitting on a dark Wyoming highway somewhere wondering if the backstraps of the deer you just hit are any good.

[gringop]

When you are as cheap as me, you do the self install and save a hundred bucks. (It's just a grill guard, not a bumper)

Gringop

[LOKNLOD]

Is the agreed upon best practice to hit a deer first with your factory bumper and then use the proceeds to buy a nice steel aftermarket bumper?

I pit-maneuvered a little Filipino lady in her Focus (more common downtown than deer) and then used the insurance proceeds to upgrade bumper.

ARB Bullbar or go home.

[Shotgun]

Think something like this would provide more protection for the radiator and whatnot?

Perhaps coincidence, or I was just more aware since we were discussing the subject, but I saw one of these on a pickup yesterday. Looked very nice. Might be a decent compromise if you decide not to go full grill guard.